Emily Norton

Emily Norton is the Next Leaders Program Manager at the Institute for Policy Studies. In this role, Emily oversees youth ​programming and curriculum development at the Institute. Emily first came to IPS as an intern for both the Peace Economy Transitions and Demilitarization of Africa projects in 2011, and in 2012 she joined the IPS staff as the Office Manager and Internship Coordinator.

Emily graduated from American University in 2012 where she studied International Development, Anthropology, and Studio Art. In college, her activism centered on issues of militarization in Africa, labor rights, and women’s rights. As a student, she helped organize solidarity campaigns with campus employees as a member of the Student Worker Alliance and volunteered with the Center for Domestic Training and Development in Nairobi, Kenya to fight for basic labor protections alongside domestic workers, trafficking survivors, and refugees.

Outside of her work at IPS, she has served as a researcher for the Labor Network for Sustainability in the organization’s ongoing effort to connect the climate justice and labor movements. She has also been fulfilled by her roles as a facilitator and mentor at femex, a community-building organization designed to provide the space and structure to explore different aspects of what it means to be “female” through dialogue and experiential learning.

IPS' Foreign Policy In Focus, Friends of the Congo, and Africa Faith & Justice Network held a briefing on the M23 uprising, the involvement of the Rwandan government, and ethnic tensions in Eastern DRC.